


The Monarch

by perniciousLizard



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Post-Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 02:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6066772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perniciousLizard/pseuds/perniciousLizard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asgore finds a caterpillar in the garden by Toriel’s school.  Frisk is delighted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Monarch

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for day ten of a "change" themed 30 Day challenge. The whole challenge is [here](https://alloftheseprompts.wordpress.com/2015/12/30/30-day-challenge-writing-about-change/) and all the entries I've finished are [here](http://it-refused.tumblr.com/tagged/30-day-change).

Asgore was the one who spotted a tiny striped caterpillar in the lawn outside the Toriel’s school.  He knelt down next to it, and when he recognized the species he felt a wave of deep guilt pass over him. The bright white, yellow, and black lines made it easy to identify: it was a monarch butterfly, or it would have been someday, if he hadn’t mowed down its food source.  Milkweed was poisonous, and dangerous where there were children, so he hadn’t given a second thought to getting rid of it.  

He let the weak thing crawl onto his shirt.  Frisk, playing in the topiary, ran over to see what he had found.  

“Oh!” They knelt down and examined the small creature, curious.  They wanted to touch it, but Asgore told them it was better not to.  He remembered something and stood up, slowly, carefully, and Frisk followed as he carried the delicate creature around the building.

Frisk opened the gate and then climbed on the fence and watched Asgore carefully prod the caterpillar off his shirt and onto the milkweed he hadn’t gotten rid of yet.  Frisk hopped down and ran over.  

“That is the most we can do,” Asgore said.  He had thought himself a little lazy, not coming back here and getting rid of the last of the poisonous weed, but from now on he would make sure there was a little patch of it behind the fence for the caterpillars.  

Frisk seemed like they wanted to stay and watch to see if it started to eat, so Asgore stood by a little while and told him everything he remembered about monarch butterflies.  He made sure to warn Frisk about the poisonous quality of the milkweed.

Eventually, Toriel was concerned enough to come looking for them, despite Asgore being there, and Frisk showed her the caterpillar and told her everything Asgore had just shared with them.  

Asgore went back to tending to the garden.  The children had planted tomatoes earlier in the season, as part of a project, and there was some kind of fungus attacking them, yellowing the leaves and making the plants droop like they weren’t getting enough water.  He worried that the children would not see success for all their efforts.  He didn’t want them to be discouraged from the joy of gardening so early on.  

Toriel and Frisk closed the gate behind them, and Toriel told Frisk that they could visit, but they should try to let the little creature eat in peace.  

Frisk visited once a day.  They took their cell phone with them, and snapped a picture so everyone could see how big it was getting.  And then, one day, they just couldn’t find it and they called Asgore to ask if he had moved it again.  

They found the monarch’s chrysalis in a tree nearby.  They had both already known what it would look like: green, the color of a spring leaf, and delicately lined with gold.  Asgore held Frisk up and the child took picture after picture, posting them online so their friends could see it too.  

Toriel’s phone must have let her know that Frisk was posting pictures, because after a few minutes they saw her walking around the building and coming towards them.  Asgore looked down, trying to push aside the joy and pain that mixed around inside him whenever he saw her.  

“Ah, that is amazing, my child,” she said.  She was being kind to Asgore, and mostly ignoring him.  

Asgore set Frisk down, and they ran over to Toriel, tugging on her sleeve and making her come closer to get a better look.  Asgore left them, Toriel visibly relaxing as he walked away.  

He heard her say, “The poor thing didn’t start out in the best place, did it?  But you gave it a new home where it could be safe and happy, and look at how it flourished.”  

Frisk started to say something, but didn’t seem to be able to find words.

“Isn’t it wonderful?”  Toriel asked.

“I think it must be really happy,” Frisk said, finally.  

“I do hope we get to see it when it emerges.”

A few days later, Asgore walked around to the back of the building and was startled to see Alphys and Undyne behind the fence.  Alphys was on Undyne’s shoulders, and his old royal scientist was messing around in the tree directly next to the one with the chrysalis.  

Alphys saw him first.  "Oh!“  She was so alarmed she almost fell off Undyne’s shoulders.

"Hey, now, Alphys, be careful!” Undyne caught her leg.  "Oh!  Hi!“ She waved at Asgore with her free hand.  

Asgore walked over, curious.

"Uh,” Alphys said, “Um…this…th-this must look really strange.  Oh my god.  This isn’t r-really…”

“Alphys is setting up a camera so even if the kid isn’t around when it comes out, they won’t miss it!” Undyne said, cheerful.  "They keep posting pictures of it everywhere.“

"It’s…it’s r-really cute, so…”

“That is a very good idea,” Asgore said.  

Alphys relaxed, slightly.  

“I will leave you to it.”  He was sure that as long as he was hovering around, there was a risk of Alphys hurting herself out of nervousness.  She did not enjoy being watched.  

Toriel left one of the computers in her school running.  The webcam video mostly looked like a static image, and the children got bored watching it, but there was usually some small child checking to see if anything was happening yet.  

With all the scrutiny, Asgore was surprised to hear that no one noticed the caterpillar was emerging until the process was half over.  Once someone did notice, however, there was no space around the computer, it was so packed with children.  Toriel took them out behind the school, and they stood by the fence and pointed out to each other the bright burst of orange half hidden in the leaves.  

After a little while, Toriel made everyone go back to their regular lessons.

Once school was over, Frisk ran back behind the building and found Asgore already there.  The king was sitting so still he could have been one of his topiaries.  There was a moving patch of orange and black on his head and Frisk almost squealed when they saw it.  

The butterfly slowly opened and closed its wings.  Frisk kept their mouth pressed tightly shut, and stood motionless.  After a minute, the monarch flew off, fluttering towards a patch of bright yellow flowers.  


End file.
